Clothesline pulley



K. MICHALSKE jam... 5, 1954 CLOTHESLINEI PULLEIY 2 She'ets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 29, 1952 INVENTOR KAROL MICHALSKI 1954 K. MICHALSKE CLOTHESLINE PULLEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 29, 1952 INVENTOR. KAROL MICHALSKI ATTORNEYS This invention deals with'a pulley "for clothes lines. More specifically, it relates to a clothes line pulley around which a rope line may be pulled, loaded with clothes; without interference by the clothes, thereby enabling efficient'utilization of both lines disposed on'the pulley. 7

Conventional clothes lines at present travel over a closed pulley and thus are limited to only one of the lines for hanging clothes. z, There have been proposed in the art, various pulleys which have been claimed to "enable hanging of clothes on both of the lines but, so far, they have not met with any success. In the first place they have xae rsrmima Karo; Michalski, Newark, N.

n sea b il -29, nsgsaaj; o. M c e m'e-j' 9.

been complicated by springs and similar devices whichlru'st and also stain ,the clothes. Secondly; they have been. unable. to avoid the rotation of the clothes line around its own axis; with thereonsequent rolling up of the clothes around the line, making it difiicult to remove the clothes after they have dried. They have also encountered other difficulties, such as dislodging of clothes pins from the line, etc.

Among the novel features of the present invention are: an offset shaft for holding the pulley, a non-rotatable suspension means for the pulley or sheave, and a grooved rim on the sheave carrying rope-wedging means to minimize or eliminate rotation of the rope or line around its own axis.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the drawing inwhich Figure 1 depicts an edge view of a pulley made according to the present invention, with the mounting attached, and Figure 2 shows an exploded view of the pulley mounting. A side view of the pulley is shown in Figure 3, while Figure 4 illustrates the manner in which the pulley is employed for hanging clothes on a clothes line.

Figure 5 depicts a side view of another modification of a pulley made from sheet material. An enlarged cross-sectional view of the pulley along A-A of Figure 5 is shown in Figure 6. Similar numerals refer to similar parts in the various figures.

Referring again to the drawing, numeral l rep resents the pulley having grooved rim l5 attached to spokes 2, and centrally disposed hub 4 into which fits the end of shaft 6 of the mounting. This shaft is provided with projecting stops 1 to restrict movement of pulley I along shaft 6, and a cotter pin locked in hole II in the end of shaft 6 prevents pulley I from fallingoff shaft 6. Washers 8 and 9 are disposed on the shaft on each side of the pulley to facilitate proper rotation thereof.

Shaft 6 is bent at right angles at 22 and extends as an offset section .5 which is long enough to accornmodate half of the pulley and alsoclear the clothes passingthereunder as they pass around onlpulley I. f

l h fft extension" S-alSoterminates, with right angle'bend 23after'which'it extends for a short distance,"terrninating witli another right angle bend 24 opposite the middle of thepulley.

;,Prolongation [2; which extends outwardly and in thesame'planeas the other parts of the shaft, actsas ajhanging.rod,.terminating with loop I3, Linkflnray be attached to loop I3 to serve as a Itch-rotatable hanging means through which hanger hQ kJ-S on ppstzs may-be engaged. The entire pulley assembly is designated by .numeral l8.,

When in usefasse'rnbly is mounted on hook I9 onpost ISsoth atfoiTset shaftextension 5 is disposed above pulley I memes line I1 is then slipped into the groove of pulley I and the rope line is made taught. It is assumed that the line is also similarly connected to an oppositely disposed pulley. Then the clothes 20 are pinned onto the line by clothes pins 2| which are applied to the sides of the clothes (as in Fig. 3) immediately under the line, and not on top of the line as in the conventional manner. When this is done, the clothes may be made to travel around pulley I by pulling line IT, for example, thereby making the full line available for hanging clothes.

In the event the line develops slack, pulley assembly l8 will drop (link I 4 being the fulcrum), so that the line will not fall ofi the pulley. Due to the non-rotating feature of the link I4-loop I3 combination when mounted on hook l9, there is no fear of entangling the two portions of the line and the clothes thereon.

The construction of the pulley rim I5 is an important feature of the present invention. Each side of the rim groove may consist of a round or elliptical curve portion, but the center section I6 of the groove must consist of a wedge shape so as to bind the rope line (which is under tension) and thus prevent rotation of the line around its own axis. Otherwise, if an ordinary round grooved pulley is used, the line revolves on its own axis and causes the clothes to wind up on the line, causing considerable difiiculty in removal of the clothes.

The preferred form of the rim is an outwardly rounded-V-shape, the rounded-V sides of the rim serving to keep the line directed to the center wedge portion and to facilitate keeping the rope line on the pulley by means of the inclined plane surfaces.

It has been disclosed above that the pulley assembly must be mounted in a non-rotatable manner. This, however, does not imply that the pulley may not be turnable at an angle with respect to the axis of the mounting of the pulley. In fact, it is preferable to provide ready turnability to the extent of as much as 90 or even as high as almost 180 to accommodate the pulley to the swaying of the line caused by the elements and other forces.

It is alsopossible to-eliminate link I4 and to employ loop l3 as the means for hanging the pulley assembly on hook [9. In such case, loop I3 is turned to the most convenient, position,

preferably keeping the pulley assembly in a position such as that shown in Figure 3-.

4 sheet metal, such as galvanized sheet iron. As is apparent from Figure 6, the pulley may be made of two pressed sheets welded or brazed at juncture 28, thereby forming V groove I6 in the rim 15, the edges 29 of which may be rolled. Holes 4 in each of the pressed sheets act as the hub for the mounting and, since they would also allow ingress of rainwater therethrough into empty space 27, formed by inner plates 30, holes 25 are provided in the plates to act as drains.

I claim:

In a clothesline pulley assembly which allows the revolving thereon of a line on which clothes are attached, and which includes a non-rotatable In the preferred form, the pulley has a rim width, from edge to edge, of about 2%" and a groove depth of about 1 from the. edge of the rim to the bottom of the V. The diameter of such a pulley isahout 8. It is apparent,

therefore, that the groove depth must be much greater than in the case of the average pulley. In fact, it is preferred to have the depth of the groove about 2 -3 times the diameter of the clothes line rope used,v while the width of the rim, from edge to edge preferably is about 5-6 times the diameter of the clothes line rope employed. This allows sufiicient space for the looped clothes to pass through without their causing the line to be slipped off the pulley. Likewise, the depth of the groove is important in enabling retention of the line on the pulley without possibility of slipping off. The diameter of the pulley preferably is about 2 3 times the width of the rim.

Although the pulley shown in Figure 3 preferably is made of plastic material, the pulley depicted in Figures 5 and 6 preferably is made of hanger, a shaft extension attached to said hanger in offsetrelation thereto, a short shaft projecting at right angles from said extension, and a pulley rotatable on said shaft and having a groovedrim the sides of which have the same diameter, the improvement comprising the pulley having a grooved rim in the shape of an outwardly rounded V with the bottom of the I in the form of an angular wedging groove serving to wedge in the line so as to prevent it from rotating around its own axis, and the pulley also having a diameter of about two and, one-half to three times the width of the rim, said pulley being disposed on said shaft far enoug hva way from said hanger to allow clothes onthe line to pass therebetween.

KAROL MICHALSKI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 124,131 Hagerty Feb. 27, 1872 2,181,878 Eckleberry Dec. 5, 1939 2,218,854 Rabelos -OCt. 22, 1940 

